Eur. Phys. J. D 60, 449-454 (2010)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2010-00274-5

RF impedance measurements of DC atmospheric micro-discharges

¹ The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas, 75080, USA
² Laboratoire GREMI, Université d'Orléans, 45067 Orléans, France

Corresponding author: ^a overzet@utdallas.edu

Received: 31 May 2010
Revised: 29 July 2010
Published online: 20 October 2010

Abstract

The available diagnostics for atmospheric micro-plasmas remain limited and relatively complex to implement; so we present a radio-frequency technique for diagnosing a key parameter here. The technique allows one to estimate the dependencies of the electron density by measuring the RF-impedance of the micro-plasma and analyzing it with an appropriate equivalent circuit. This technique is inexpensive, can be used in real time and gives reasonable results for argon and helium DC micro-plasmas in holes over a wide pressure range. The electron density increases linearly with current in the expected range consistent with normal glow discharge behavior.